The Shadow Man

Two

Texas

The punch sends me staggering back. "Xander!"
Shouts Kree, in his "cut it out" voice.
I wipe my jaw, disobeying him.
The man puts out his fists.
I smile.
His sharp features twist into a grimace.
He's obviously French.
I walk toward him.
It's my turn.
Left hook, Right hook, punch to the stomach, than to the throat.
He clutches his neck like it's the end of the world.
I knock him out cold with an elbow to the nose. His body hits the floor with a thud.
I grin, staring around at the crowd watching me.
"Anyone else?!"
I ask crazily.
As if someone flips a switch, they go back to their business.
"S'what I thought."
I mutter under my breath.
Cold fingers grip my shoulder tightly.
"Woah hey watch the shoulder!"
Kree drags me out of the diner like a disappointed mother.
"Xander what the Heck?!"
He shouts.
"Look I know you're mad..."
"Mad?! That doesn't even begin to describe it! What was that?!"
He points at the door.
"He literally asked for it."
He sighs exasperatedly, strolling to his car.
A cherry red 2014 Corvette.
"Come on Kree."
I say, following close behind him.
He opens the trunk and begins shoveling through the clothes and duffle bags.
Something metal rattles in the trunk and I walk over to investigate.
"Oh my god. You kept it?"
I ask rhetorically.
Inside his trunk, is a weapon.
My weapon.
A shotgun to be exact.
No stock, I don't need one.
Just a  handle, and a barrel.
I smile at the memories that pop into my brain. "What are you looking for?"
He pulls out a small briefcase.
Slamming the trunk, he opens it.
"On screen is a list of the places we've lived."
I look at the giant splotch of red.
"Okay so?"
"Since you seem to be having a hard time blending in, I'm choosing where we vanish next."
My eyes snap wide open in disbelief.
"Like I chose this place?"
I say, panning around.
The sun hangs low in the horizon, already starting to set.
"It's a freaking desert, Kree. So I got in a fight. People get in fights all the time. Just what people do."
He seems to consider this as he punches the keys.
"Hey!"
I turn my attention to the French guy.
"Xan if he scratches my Vett..."
"Dont worry."
I reply.
The man walks toward me, throwing a right hook.
I see it coming a hundred miles away.
I hook my arm around his shoulder.
Throwing him to the ground.
"Hey!"
I glance over at Kree.
"Let me."
He says, throwing a roundhouse kick.
He helps me drag the man across the parking lot.
We lean him against the wall of the diner.
He lays there, limp.
"We'll say he drank too much."
I smile.
"So what now?"
He sighs, leaping atop the trunk.
"I don't know Vex."
Well great.
"Lets go."
He says, sliding off.
The engine growls to a start, roaring when it turns on.

I awake with a start.
Sweat beads on my forehead.
I slide around and put my cold feet on the floor.
I sit there for a second.
On the edge of my bed I stare at the mirror across the room.
My muscular reflection stares back at me.
I pull on a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt and take a walk outside.
The early morning dew just starting to settle. Xander sleeps inside.
His room is just down the hall from mine.
I could hear him snoring quietly as I passed.
I don't know how he could live like that.
He's a pig.
Clothes scattered across the floor.
Soda cans piled up in a corner.
On the balcony I stare out at the Wilderness. The trees stick up into the sky like lifted swords.
I take a deep breath.
The smell comforts me.
That's why I chose this place.
It reminds me of the past.
When life was simple.
When I could run with no one chasing me. When I could sleep without an axe aimed at my throat.
When I could afford to love someone.
But that times past.
My life is here and now.
And things are different.
Now I have to kill whoever chases me.
Now I have to catch the axe that dangles over me as I sleep.
A deer grazes about 60 yards out.
I smile.
Life at its finest.
Boot camp was where I learned compassion was my greatest weakness.
To get me used to the thought of killing, my Sargent took me hunting.
I stared down the sights of a semi automatic rifle.
The same animal lines up with the pins of my gun.
A deer.
Just wandering around peacefully.
I aimed.
But didn't fire.
And for that I was yelled at.
"you can hesitate, but your enemy won't. They will kill you."
A gunshot made me flinch.
The deer fell to the ground.
I turned to see Xander, ejecting the empty shell from his rifle.
"Well done Vex. And, Kree. Don't hesitate, that keeps you from taking the shot."
He says.
The deer moved on as I return to the present time.
I wasn't a natural born killer.
But that's what I had to become.
I had to become a monster.
That way I could kill monsters.
But what about when it's all over?
Everyone goes home to their families.
And I remain a monster.
But it's what I was born into.
A world of monsters.
I turn around and head inside.
Fresh coffee awaits me.
Than I hear a door shut outside.
I reach under the table, grabbing the pistol from the mag-strip.
Pulling back the slide, I chamber a round.
The blinds part slightly, not enough for anyone to notice, but enough for me to make heads and tails.
A girl in her mid twenties walks up the drive way of the small crumbling house.
It's more like a shack now that I think of it.
The girl wears a hat, covering most of her face accept for her lips.
Bright red is all I see.
She knocks four times.
The door slowly opens.
The muscles in my arm flex, lifting the pistol. Her hands reach up as she dodges to the left. She easily snaps the weapon from my hands, lifting the barrel to face me.
Her eyes are full of life.
I smile.
"Hello Finley."
She grins, slapping the gun into my chest as she walks in.
"Nice place ya got here."
Says the blonde girl tapping the couch with her boot.
"I've been waiting."
I say.
"Aw for me?"
She says, blushing on purpose.
I smile back at her.
"Did you bring it?"
I ask.
"No Kree I'm completely stupid."
My smile turns to an ice cold glare.
"Yes."
She reaches behind her and pulls a small chip from her back pocket.
I take it.
"What no thank you?"
I look at her.
She stands there with her hands behind her back, grinning at me though bright red lips. The chip slides into my laptop.
A map of America pops up on screen.
Small yellow dots litter it.
Not as spread as I thought they would be.
The dots are in clusters.
Specifically around Florida, and the coast of Georgia.
A few less are settled in North and South Carolina.
"Are you sure this is all of them?"
She nods.
"Yeah. As many as I could track."
I stare down at the slow moving yellow dots. "Alright. Than that's where Xander and I are going."
"What about me?"
She asks.
"What about you?"
She scoffs.
"Finley, I can't ask you do so this. You've already lost so much. We all have."
She looks at me though those green eyes of hers.
"And we will continue losing if we don't stop them here. The Darkness is spreading, Kree. It's gonna take all of us to stop it."
She says.
I turn to Xander.
"She's right." He says.
I sigh, looking down at the floor.
"I doubt anyone's gonna wanna get back together guys."
I say.
"Lets try."
Replies Xander.
I look at them.
They're both excited about the prospect of being part of a team again.
"Where do we start?"

Three men speak, while the other 6 walk around, holding M16s confidently in their hands.
One of them nears me.
With darkness as my cover I pull him into it's veil, silencing him instantly.
His gun snaps in half with relative ease.
The bottom of my titanium coated boot slams against another's head, knocking him to the ground where he will not be getting up.
He lets out a groan upon impact.
My cover is blown.
The remaining four guards look at me, all of them pointing their guns at me.
My eyes glow at them beneath the hood.
"Hey! Stay right there!"
One of them shouts.
"Take that hood off!"
He commands. I comply, removing it.
"What The-"
I slam my face against his, knocking him back. The others open fire upon me.
Calmly, I walk towards them.
The bullets bounce off me.
I grab a gun, ripping it from his hands, before swinging it at him.
The rifle breaks against his shoulder.
He cries as he hits the floor.
Three left.
Someone runs into the man on my left, throwing both feet into him.
The guy flies, rolling on the ground a few feet away.
He lifts a Glock to his attacker.
I pull an axe from my back, chopping his weapon in half. 
Two left.
A punch sends him flying against the wall.
One more.
He drops his weapon, raising his hands in surrender.
His employer has already fled, along with the buyer, and my only lead.
"What are you?"
He asks, in a panic.
"I'm the monster that hides in your closet. Who is the Buyer?!"
I shout, my voice is course and hard, the way it was programmed to be.
"I don't know!"
He shouts.
I raise the axe.
He puts out his hands.
"But my employer does!"
He shouts.
"Who's your employer?!"
I grab him by the collar, and slam him against the wall, I'm not messing around.
"I don't know his real name, only an
alias."
I stare at him expectantly.
"They call him Exo."
I turn, searching my database for any mention of the name.
Nothing.
I throw him atop the hood of the vehicle they arrived in.
The windshield shatters.
With the axe I separate his tire from its housing.
He's not going anywhere.
"What are you doing here?"
I ask, not turning to him.
"We need your help."
He says.
"I thought I made myself clear, when I said I was done."
Another familiar voice speaks up.
"Apparently not."
She says.
One of the men groans on the ground.
"I didn't like what they were selling."
"What Were they selling?"
Asks Xander.
"What do you need me for?"
I ask.
"I'm trying to get everyone back together. They're still out there."
He says.
I turn to him, my face concealed beneath a veil of darkness.
"Who?"
I ask.
"The Dark Ones."